Personal note: As always, thank you to all my reviewers, you're all very kind. I hope you continue to enjoy the story and you're constructive comments are always appreciated. Keep reading and be sure to let me know what you think and how you're liking the story in general. THANKS :)
Chapter Five: Game Two
The week went downhill from there. When Gerry and Kelly got home from Sunshine's, Kelly had watched in disgust as their mother forced Gerry to stand Julius up on their plans for the evening because she had no desire to 'get to know' Julius or any other 'colored' person for that matter. All through the day on Thursday, things were tense between the guys from the community trying to tear them apart. There were still protesters with signs outside the school every morning, their chants echoing through the halls, disrupting classes. Spirits were heavy with turbulent emotions bubbling just under the surface of every student of T.C. Williams High. When school was out, it was no better. Uneasiness seemed to float through the air of the town like a fog, swirling and engulfing all it came across. The boys suffered at practice, though they tried not to show it. They struggled with plays, and Boone rode their asses harder than they thought possible.
"What's wrong with you?" He demanded at one point, "You're playing like you did before camp!"
As if things weren't bad enough, Friday came, and with it, the second game of the season.
Cecile and Kelly huddled together in the stands of Herdon high school, trying to ward off the cold night air with each other's body heat. What was happening on the field was a sad sight. They may have been beating the Hornets, but the Titans' performance was less than pitiful.
"What's wrong with them?" Kelly exclaimed to no one in particular.
Cecile cast her a sideways glance. "What are you talking about? They're winning."
"That doesn't mean they're playing well." Kelly stated.
As if to illustrate her point, Rev threw a seemingly perfect pitch right into a receiver's hands, and the crowd watched as that receiver let the ball drop to the soggy grass of the field. Hands on his hips, Rev shook his head in frustration. He knew that they could play better than this. Again, mud covered Titans lined up on the ball.
Lewie Lastik put his hand on the ball. His fingers felt cold and numb and slick with mud. He felt disappointed in his teammates, a feeling he never thought he would feel. They were playing a team that seemed to have no desire to really play, and they were barely hanging onto their lead. He heard Rev call hike and snapped the ball before he threw himself into the Hornet in front of him.
Rev danced around in the pocket for what seemed like an eternity, only to find that there wasn't one open man for him to throw to. At the sight of three Hornet players charging him, he gave up on the play, and threw the ball away, taking an incomplete pass over a sac. He would rather lose a down instead of yardage.
"What's going on with you!" He bellowed once the team gathered in a huddle. "Somebody get open!"
All for nothing, they ended up punting on the fourth down. Defense went trotting back out onto the field, weary soldiers being sent back out to the front lines. Offense couldn't seem to stay in the game, which meant that they were struggling against the Hornets almost constantly. Kelly winced as she watched Gerry miss what should have been an easy tackle, and Julius had to double time it to make up for it.
Julius stood up and stomped over to his friend. Gerry slowly climbed to his feet only to have Julius slam his helmet against his own. "What are you doing out here, man?" Julius growled.
Gerry responded only by shoving Julius bodily away from him. Julius ignored the glare of warning that Gerry had cast him and kept right on. "You better wake up, Superman!" He called to his friend's retreating form. The very next play, Gerry and Julius basically cloths lined a player, knocking him flat on his back. They banged their helmets together and screamed at each other in victory.
"Left side!" Gerry exclaimed.
"Strong side!" Came the reply.
"Left side!"
"Strong side!"
Fists banging on should pads and another crashing of head gear, and they returned to the line. The call went out and the quarterback for the Hornets threw a beautiful pass right down the center of the field. It was soaring straight for the hands of his man, when out of nowhere, Petey reached up and snatched the ball out of midair. Titan's fans went absolutely crazy. It was one of the only one percent good things to happen throughout the entire game. With that, the Titans' offense resumed in a drive for the end zone.
Kelly couldn't stop her gaze from wondering over to Christi Sutton, who kicking and shaking her pompoms, screaming, "Go, Titans!" Her hair was fixed in a simple ponytail, but still looked perfect and elegant. As she stood with her pompoms on her hips, smiling and wide eyed, she gave off an air of perfect poise and togetherness. Her composure seemed effortless, which made Kelly want to rip the little cheerleader's hair out.
On the field, the team had just fumbled and barely recovered the ball. Boone sent in two new receivers and had the one who dropped the football by the face mask and was screaming at him. No doubt that boy was gonna be running laps after the game. Petey walked over to the bench and sat down beside Sunshine in hopes of catching his breath before he had to go back in.
"What's wrong with you Sunshine?" He asked, noticing the distraught look on his friend's face.
In all honesty, Sunshine thought that he was losing his mind over the whole Kelly thing. He couldn't get her out of his mind. He thought about when he ate. He thought about her when he practiced. He thought about her when studied, showered, and slept. Basically, if he breathed, he thought about her. But he couldn't tell that to Petey and his big mouth. His mind struggled to make up some excuse, same generic answer to Petey's question. "I can't make that pitch, Petey." He said, finally.
The answer seemed to satisfy Petey as he laughed and explained to Sunshine that he was never gonna get to play anyway. Sunshine breathed a sigh of relief as Petey just kept rambling on. He knew that once he got Petey talking, he wouldn't stop, which meant he wouldn't ask him anymore tough questions. Out on the field, the team was struggling to maintain it's foothold in the game, inching their way oh so slowly to the goal line.
When the game ended, the Titan's walked away with the win, but it wasn't a pretty one. Kelly and Cecile climbed into Cecile's father's car to head back to the school to meet up with the football team's bus.
"That had to be one of the worst games I have ever seen." Kelly stated as she buckled her seat belt.
Cecile shrugged, "It wasn't so bad. At least they won."
"They won because the Herdon Hornets suck." Kelly informed her friend, "If they play like that next week, they'll get creamed."
Somewhere between forty-five minutes and an hour later, Cecile maneuvered her father's large Chevy into the T.C. Williams parking lot. They hurried out of the car and ran over to join the crowd that had formed around the bus. People were chanting and screaming and applauding as the Titan team climbed off the bus, but the boys themselves didn't seem to happy with their performance. Even Petey wasn't being quite as loud as usual. Rev found the girls first.
"Hey, little Bertier, Cecile." He said with a smile.
Cecile grinned, "Good game."
Rev's smile grew, "Nah, it wasn't." Cecile blushed and looked down, "but thanks for saying so." Rev added and nudged her with his elbow. Cecile beamed at him.
Kelly was standing on her tiptoes, trying desperately to spot Gerry... or Sunshine, you know, whoever she happened to see first.
"Hey, kid." She heard her brother's familiar voice say. She turned to him and hugged his neck. "Don't even tell me that I played well tonight, I can't handle the sympathy." He said as he hugged her back.
Kelly laughed, "I would never lie to you like that, big brother." She said, pulling back from him. "But you didn't play horribly, so that's better than nothing, right?"
Gerry smiled at that and then turned to get a hug from Cecile. Kelly spun around and continued looking for Sunshine. Gerry and Rev had wondered off to talk to Julius and Rev had pulled Cecile along with them, leaving Kelly standing there by herself. That was when Ray approached her.
"Hey there, cutie." He said.
"Oh," she smiled, "hey, Ray. Tough game, huh?"
"Ah, it wasn't too bad." He said. "So, you going out with Gerry tonight?"
"Oh, I don't know. I'm not sure what's going on to..."
At that moment, she spotted Sunshine, and she really wished that she hadn't. Somewhere in the distance, she heard Ray asking her to go out with him that night, but her mind was too focused on the sight in front of her. Sunshine was standing by the steps of the school, with that flouncy, bouncy, towheaded cheerleader tramp hanging all over him. Her stomach churned and she thought that she was going to throw up right there, all over Ray's shoes. Instead she forced herself to turn back to him.
"I'm sorry, Ray," she said, "I can't go out with you tonight. I'm not feeling too well, and I think I'm just going to go home and go to bed."
"Okay, well, some other time then." Ray said.
"Yeah, sure." Kelly said distractedly and headed over to where Cecile, Rev, Gerry, and Julius were all standing. She lightly tugged on her friend's arm and pulled her out of the circle slightly, but she still drew everyone's attention. "Look, Cecile, I'm just gonna head on home, okay?"
"How are you getting home?" Cecile asked.
"I'll find a ride, it's okay." Kelly said.
"Are you sure? What's wrong, honey?" Cecile asked, her concern clear, "What happened?"
Kelly shook her head, "Nothing. Don't worry about it, it's okay. I'm fine."
"You're sure?" Cecile tried one last time.
Kelly nodded and walked away. Cecile wasn't convinced, then she saw Sunshine and Christi out of the corner of her eye and turned to get a better look. Christi had practically wrapped herself around Sunshine. "Oh, no." Cecile groaned and spun around to see if she could find Kelly, but she had already disappeared. "Great."